Great Naval Battles of Chuck Heston, 15mm galleys

Yes! After years of sitting idle in the storage closet, Great Naval Battles of Chuck Heston (also known as Great Naval Battles of the Silver Screen) was back in play. My brother and I use to run this game at Nashcon back in the early nineties, using the old Minifigs My Galley Salley ships (by the way if you have 1 or 2 gathering dust let me know). Spent a few days painting up a few more galleys and some crew for a new total of 27 ships! I let everyone know by email and via Facebook, it pays to advertise if you want a good turnout. 10 players showed up, with  running the game.
Romans with Greek and Rhodian  allies (Lots of infantry and seamanship with the Rhodians)
vs
Hellenistic Monarch with Greek and Eastern allies. (Lots of machines and archery)

As usual some players attempted a little tactical maneuvering but it quickly turned into a brawl.
Slim Roman victory in the end.

Hellenic Monarch McGinnius V

Roman Consul Stelios checking the signs

Part of Hellenic fleet

Setup and some early worrying

 

About to get to grips

The bloody melee

Ship view

Big turnout for the first game of Lion Rampant- Fantasy Style

Yesterday was the first game of Lion Rampant - Fantasy Style!. The official Dragon Rampant is not due to be released till December, but we couldn't wait. All retinues are 24 points, no limitations except that no more than 4 of any one type and or more than 12 points of missile troops. Too much foot or cav never seems to unbalance the game unlike too many x-bows on the field.  Players simply substituted fantasy figs but used existing unit types. Example: 12 orcs as a unit of fierce foot. A giant as a unit of serfs (just had to keep track of hits with a die) I had a single Nazghul with the stats of a unit of bidowers. I pictured him casting magic (shooting) and moving with great stealth.
14 players in all showed up, with a total count of 610 figs I believe.
Charlie Traylor laid out a beautiful 24 ft table of Hobbiton goodness.
Defender retinues included: Bretonnians, Gondor, Dwarves, Centaurs, Dwarves again, Heroes of Pathfinder and Elves.
Attacker retinues: Samurai, Black Knights, Zulus (yes Zulus), Mordor, Undead, Chaos, Orcs
Evil pulled it out 29 to 24 in under 3 hours.

Fantasy Rampant?

Our joy over Lion Rampant seems to be insatiable, we're now considering trying a little Fantasy Rampant.
Dragon Rampant gets released in December, but who can wait?
So going to use the existing lists and a few that have popped up on the forum and on various blogs.
My take on a Fantasy Roman Army. 2 points over in the infantry, but I figure we're going to have to fudge a little here and there. Love to finally get these boys on the game table.

Lion Rampant Grows, 624 figs and 10 players

Okay so we are on a Lion Rampant craze at the moment! Last Sunday's gathering saw 10 players and 624 figs on the table. We learned the value of Bidowers defending a village with ponds and woods nearby and hat bridges are just a killing ground. Battle started around 6 done by 9ish.

Come and get me!

The best defense is an offense

Surge across the bridge

Bloody Hill

Lots of casualties!

Terrain for Rampant Lion

New Fields and Haystacks

So Troy, who has taken on the task of coming up with scenarios, asked me if I had a 'fort'. So after a few emails back and forth, we decided on a palisade. A secure area for a border garrison, until something more permanent gets built. Or a nice place for a raiding party to stock up their plunder until it's time to go home.
I know it's greener than it should be, but a lot of that will be covered by tents or temporary buildings later.
Also the walkway and movable gate will be added tomorrow.

More Lion Rampant Medievals

Last weeks game got more people interested in Lion Rampant. So Medieval figs were dusted off and 3 new players showed up at the table. I managed to finish another unit of Fireforge Yeoman and some new fields.

Medieval Mayhem

Wife shows correct way to move figs

New fields

Gravemarkers had a chance of containing a holy relic

Old Normans on the field after years of gathering dust

John taunting the other side

On a Lion Rampant Bing, Samurai style

So we've caught the lion Rampant bug and yesterday tried it out with a friend's Japanese figs that had been sitting in storage for over 10 years. I managed to find a Samurai list on  boardgamegeek.
The game was quite fun and managed to get 2 games in 4 hours and even picked up a new player.